Martin Naydel and The Terrific Whatzit

I always liked the super-clean drawing style of Martin Naydel. The gentleman began at DC Comics in 1943 by drawing McSnurtle the Turtle (which was probably written by the great Sheldon Mayer). I had always thought that McSnurtle's second identity of Flash knock-off The Terrific Whatzit occurred after the series had been established for a while, but no! Both of the characters pictured above started appearing in the very first issue of Funny Stuff in 1943.

Mr. Naydel crossed over into the full-fledged superhero genre and drew All-Flash comics and even the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics, and he certainly drew a multitude of puzzle-type features that appeared in so many of the DC titles (while Mr. Henry Boltinoff drew the many gag strips that were published throughout the DC line). And I am amazed to learn today that Mr. Naydel was the creator of  the Jumble newspaper feature that I have tussled with every morning for many decades (although from its 1954 inception until 1960 it was named Scramble).

Hooray for Martin Naydel!